Ok I found an independent shop that does work on all Euro cars including exotics.
They will give me an interstate battery and register it for $200 installed....I will do that, why give a dealer twice that...

cheers for this! also did the job over the weekend. recoded via NCS as I chose a different spec battery and registered bat change via INPA. Cost me £75 to DIY vs ~£200 at the stealer! OBD-USB cable paid for itself!

I am pretty sure it is not the lack of registration. It is more likely the battery was not fully charged when you got it. I always put a new battery on the charger just-in-case. They are typically charged but some have needed a few hours on the charger.

Lack of registration means the battery will be charged like an old battery but it would still receive charge. That would not change a battery from fully charged to discharged to the point it won't start quickly.

It could also be a defective battery. I bought one for my daughters car that had a hole in it. She wouldn't go back where she got it, of course, so I drove a couple hundred miles to figure this out and get it replaced. All I knew when I left was it worked imediately after she bought it but wouldn't start the car a week or two later.

This tutorial worked (mostly) like a charm for me when replacing the original battery (76K miles on it) in my 06 330i. The battery I wound up buying was an Advance Auto Parts 94RH7; their "gold" battery. The battery was $167.00 + tax. It's about 1.5" shorter than the original BMW battery, but featured more CCA. I too wound up with a spare wire pair that apparently doesn't go to anything I can see. One wire is red, and one is blue. I'll have the wire checked out when I have the battery "registered" in a few days at the dealership. I couldn't get the soft plastic hold down in quite the right spot, so I may have them partially reinstall the battery, even though it works fine.

I just replaced my E92 battery yesterday. The car has just had it's Fifth birthday (registered Dec 2006.

I bought the car recently and thought that the sluggish battery was due to the fact that it had been sat on a cold forecourt for months. The battery was lucky to do 11 volts when cold, so I bought a Bosch model 96 4 year guarantee battery to replace it, from Carparts4less.co.uk

Cost of battery, 71 UK pounds, good I felt.

I also bought a cable from www.bmwcables.co.uk to do the registration, which cost another 25 pounds.

The result was good, and the registration below was particularly interesting. It worked first time, and also explains the difference between black and white batteries (mine was white conventional lead-acid), the black ones are the glass-mat ones which are newer tech.

This is from DIS software, which is used at the BMW dealerships, so it should be the last word on whether we need registration for a new battery....

We do.

Not only that, if the battery is different, such as capacity, to the old one, then it recommends the further step of recoding as well!!!!

I haven't tried that yet but I have the Progman software working too so I might.

Can anyone tell me if this cable from www.bmwcables.co.uk does the battery registration as well as the BT cable does? What all does this cable do? It is certainly is a lot cheaper than the BT cable.
Thanks/

Just swapped my wife's battery last night with a Walmart special H8 Maxx battery in her 07 328i. The H8 is an exact match to the OEM battery in size, terminals, vent ports, etc. Has a 730cc rating. I used an old battery from my ZX10R to jump the terminal under the hood to preserve her radio presets and time. When I swapped my Nissan Titan battery earlier this year the TPMS sensors needed to be reset after the swap, so I also wanted to prevent something like this with her 328. The inspection LED was not working on her OEM battery, but the car has been starting slow during last winter and after sitting for a week or so, so I figured a cell was bad, etc. Now it starts up great. I'm also opting out of resetting the ECU for the new battery, I'll report back over time to comment on the battery's performance. Worst case, I can get a new battery if it fails within 3 years as Walmart has a 3yr replacement warranty. Cost me $109.

just changed my oem battery; 2006 325i auto with sport package build date 09/2005 which makes it 6 years 10 months old. Got new oem white flooded battery from bmw dealer with same spec: 90ah, 720 cca, 160 rc. Cost is $235 including tax and I will register this weekend at same dealer for $70. The new battery production date is June 2012 and I installed it myself. Thanks to all for the diy.

In case anyone cares, I installed an EverStart Maxx-H6 from Walmart. $98 battery made by Johnson Controls. The amp hours is not a stated specification but I called the 800 number on the battery (before I bought it)and they told me it was a 72AH battery. It took 2 calls to get the info. The first call I was totally stone walled saying it was proprietary info and Walmart would not let them release it. The second call was a much nicer girl who asked the engineering department for me.

I put the battery in myself and then took it to a reputable indy shop for proper registration. They charged $35 to register it. I did however need a new IBS. I'm not sure if it was bad before or if I damaged it putting the battery in. My battery was over 6 years old and the car wouldn't start unless I unhooked the IBS which led me to get a new battery first.

So i replaced mine last night - Very good instructions, clear and exact..

There is 1 thing listed however. In the picture below, there is a 2 wire cable that is wrapped up. This cable does NOT go anywhere - it does not connect to anything. When i was done - i had 1 extra wire and could not figure out where it does. It just sits there and has no purpose

I just replaced my battery from this posts instructions. This wire was there for me, too. I checked it before I got started and it wasn't connected to anything then either, so if anyone else is wondering just leave it out after you replace the battery.

Posted to this thread some time ago. I wanted to provide an update that the replacement OEM battery (same specs as factory battery) that I installed in June 2010 is still starting without issue. The registration process was skipped per the advice of the shop foreman at my local BMW Center.

just put my new battery in. Got the MAXX H6 from local walmart for $98. Car started no errors, I plugged in BAV TECH tool and did the "adapt to new battery" and everything works 100%. Thank you so much for this DIY!

just put my new battery in. Got the MAXX H6 from local walmart for $98. Car started no errors, I plugged in BAV TECH tool and did the "adapt to new battery" and everything works 100%. Thank you so much for this DIY!

Does the bav tool prompt you to input the amp hours of the battery? Or is it assuming you're installing a BMW or like for like with the same specs? The H6 is not the same.

After reading through most of this thread, I guess I should consider myself fortunate to have 80k miles on my '06 E90 and it is just now starting to show signs of a dying battery! I've owned the car since there were only 6 miles on the odo, so I know it's the original battery. Anyway, thanks for the write up!

I would like to ask a few questions, though.

1. Anyone in the Boston/Lowell area with a BT tool willing to help a fellow E9* owner out to avoid dealing with the overpriced dealers in the area? I'd be willing to pay you for your trouble, within reason, or buy you a beer

2. What do you think about connecting jumpers from another vehicle to the jumper posts under the hood while doing the battery swap to keep the computer, radio stations, ect. from being cleared? I've heard you need to reset your radio if power is removed and I have no idea where the code is (however I didn't see anyone mention that in this thread...).

Steve!
You are the Man!
Thank You! Just replaced my battery in about 30 min.
Car was build in June 2006, about 6-7 month of ownership, battery died. Dealer replaced by warranty. So, this will be 3 rd battery for this car.
I purchase the same battery from dealer for $222.92 out the door. Dealer, that I purchase my car from, asking for $256 + tax
One more time - Thank You for great tutorial.

Edit on 10/15/2012: Frind of my just pull into my office parking and register new battery with car computer. Take him less than 1 min. Dealer price of battery ($256 + tax) --> with installation --> $513 + tax

After reading through most of this thread, I guess I should consider myself fortunate to have 80k miles on my '06 E90 and it is just now starting to show signs of a dying battery! I've owned the car since there were only 6 miles on the odo, so I know it's the original battery. Anyway, thanks for the write up!

I would like to ask a few questions, though.

1. Anyone in the Boston/Lowell area with a BT tool willing to help a fellow E9* owner out to avoid dealing with the overpriced dealers in the area? I'd be willing to pay you for your trouble, within reason, or buy you a beer

2. What do you think about connecting jumpers from another vehicle to the jumper posts under the hood while doing the battery swap to keep the computer, radio stations, ect. from being cleared? I've heard you need to reset your radio if power is removed and I have no idea where the code is (however I didn't see anyone mention that in this thread...).

Thanks!
Joe

My radio stations and all were not lost. I have never heard that you have to enter a code to make it work again... Except on Hondas.

I replaced my battery with another oem one from the dealer. I then used ncs expert to register it same as the bt tool would do. The oem battery obviously fits, requires no programming to change the size or amp hours, and they clearly last a long time. No need to worry about maintaining power to the car, I have disconnected my battery a few times with no issues.